Velocipede



3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. H. BULLARD. VELOGIPEDE.

(No Model.) 7

Patented Dec. 30, .1890.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets' Sheet 3.

J. H. BULLARD. VELOOIPEDE.

No. 443,818. Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

' fizzy/2702'; emzzffard UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES II. BULLARD, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

VELOCIPEDE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,818, dated December 30, 1890.

Application filed September 12, 1890. Serial No. 364,760. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. BULLARD, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Springfield, Ham pden county, State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Velocipedes, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate more particularly to that class of velocipedes known as Safety bicycles, and have for their object the diminution of the jar transmitted from the rear wheel to the rider; and the invention consists in the combination and construction, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a side elevation of a Safety bicycle embodying the principle of my inven- 'tion. Fig. II is the same in a modified form. Fig. III is an enlarged view of so much of the mechanism of Fig. I as relates to my invention. Fig. IV is an enlarged detail of Fig. II.

Heretofore the employment of springs combined with the saddle alone to do away with the jar conveyed to the rider by the wheels has onlybeen partially effective,owing to the fact that the treadles, upon which a portion of the Weight of the rider rests, through the feet transmit a large portion of said 3' an to the person; also, an independent movement to the saddle tends to either change the distance between the saddle and treadles or else the vertical position of the saddle relative to the treadles, and is to the extent of such independent movement unfavorable to the proper working of the machine; but by combining the saddle and treadles, held at a fixed distance apart, with a spring connected to the frame of the machine, so that both saddle and treadles will spring thereupon together and approximately in a vertical line, I am able to obviate all disagreeable jar to the rider, while retaining the treadles at the proper working angle to the saddle.

In the drawings, Figs.I and III,A is an upright or post supporting upon its upper end the saddle B, made fast thereto, and having hung upon its lower end the treadle and sprocket-wheel shaft. The upright is tied at its upper end by a horizontal link a to the top of the rear wheel-guard, said'link being hinged at both ends, so as to allow the upright A a vertical play, and the upright A is supported near its lower end upon the free end of a strapspring 0, fixed at its other end to the frame D. The spring 0, from the point 0 of its attachment to the frame D, is carried in a segment of a circle concentric to the axis of the rear wheel and in rear of and clear of the hub to the other side of the frame D and prolonged, as shown,in a straight line to form of its free end at (Z a support for the upright A. The treadle shaft is hung upon the upright A at its end projecting below the frame D, sufficient space being left between said shaft and the frame to give the former the required latitude of movement without striking against the frame.

The forward end of spring 0 at d is preferably formed as one half of a journal-bearing to seat a pin (1' from the upright A, overwhich the other half of the bearing is screwed to the end of the spring, as seen in Fig. III, and the other end of spring 0 is preferably secured by an intermediate clamp-piece c to the frame D, by means of which the spring can be adjusted relatively to the upright A and frame D. The saddle B and treadles so arranged upon opposite ends of the upright have an elastic movement in unison permitted by the spring and governed by the link a and driving belt or chain E, which hold them to a movement in substantially a vertical line, so that the motion of the machine is always easy and the t-readles are equally operative at any point in their line of movement when vibrating with the saddle.

In Fig. II the upright A, supporting the saddle B, is at its lower end fixed to the framepicceD and is trussed to the frame by braces e f from its upper part. The treadle-shaft is hung in an extension from the frame and forming a part thereof.

The frame proper terminates so me distance from the rear axle and is prolonged thereto by a spring 0, which is carried in the form of a spiral around the axle to have one end secured thereto, as more particularly shown in Fig. IV.

It will be seen that the whole truss formed by the upright A, its braces c f, and the frame D, swinging on the front fork as a pivot and carrying the saddle and treadles with it, is

and treadle-shaft connected to said frame, substantially as described. t

2. The combination, with the frame D, 0f the clamp-piece c, the spring 0, adjnstably secured to said clamp-piece and cm-ving round the rear axle at a little distance therefrom, and the saddle-post secured to said frame and 20 supporting the treadle-shaft below the frame, substantially as described.

J AMES II. BULLAR'D.

Witnesses:

R. F. HYDE, PENN TYLER. 

